It's Day 9 of Vegan Mofo 2016 and I am officially flying by the seat of my pants. I'm sitting down to write this post, gyro in hand, kitchen in a state of chaos, literally moments after I finished photographing the completed dish (while competing against a sun that's sinking below the horizon earlier and earlier every day.)
Today I'm taking inspiration from Hot for Food's Recipe?! videos. I'm taking an inventory of what's in my fridge and trying to make something delicious. This is gonna be fun! And we need fun right now.
Here's what I picked out from my fridge, freezer, and pantry:
- unsweetened coconut yogurt
- frozen naan
- a can of young jackfruit in brine
- Creamer potatoes
- Cremini mushrooms
- ⅓ zucchini
- chives
- green onion
- cilantro
- garlic
- ½ onion
- jalapeno
- ½ cup soaked cashews
- and a preheated oven from baking molasses cookies earlier
Immediately the coconut yogurt, soaked cashews, zucchini, garlic, and herbs had me thinking tzatziki. With the tzatziki idea locked down and possible Greek-inspired theme happening I decided to use the jackfruit, Cremini mushrooms, and naan bread to make gyros!
For the filling I sautéed thinly sliced onion, 3 cloves of minced garlic, and ½ jalapeno seasoned with paprika, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Once the mixture was fragrant I added the Creminis (thinly-sliced) and the jackfruit (after removing the core and rinsing well). As the mixture cooked, I mashed the jackfruit with a fork. I wanted to develop and smoky "meaty" flavour so I also added a ½ teaspoon liquid smoke and ½ tablespoon molasses to help the mixture caramelize a little bit. I cooked the filling, stirring often, for a good 10 minutes. At this point I didn't find the texture quite right so I decided to pop it in my preheated oven while I worked on the other components. I added ½ cup of water and transferred it to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to cook for 30 minutes (stirring every 10 minutes.) At the end the filling was nicely browned and just moist enough.
Now onto the tzatziki. I blended ½ cup coconut yogurt with the leftover cashews on high until perfectly smooth. I grated the zucchini, sprinkled it with a generous amount of salt and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then I transferred the grated zucchini into a clean tea towel to ring out the excess water. I added the zucchini, 2 cloves of minced garlic, chives, green onion, and plenty of salt and pepper to the yogurt + cashews. I let this chill in the freezer while I started preparing the potatoes.
I parboiled the potatoes before frying them in a generous amount of olive oil, in the same pan I'd cooked the filling in. I seasoned them with salt and fried them till crispy. Originally I'd intended to serve the potatoes as a side but instead I ended up wrapping them up along with filling which ended up being exactly the right choice.
After the filling was done "slow roasting" in the oven, the tzatziki was chilled, and the potatoes were hot and crispy, I got ready to assemble. I warmed the naan in the oven and sliced some onion and tomato (which I'd previously missed while checking the kitchen for ingredients.) I arranged the sliced tomato, onion, jackfruit filling, and crispy potatoes down the center of a warm piece of naan and topped it with tzatziki. I folded the edges inwards, attempting and failing a cone shape, and wrapped it in parchment paper to keep everything secure.
This little experiment turned out to be a success! Everything came together beautifully. I've only experimented with jackfruit once previously but even so, the filling was flavourful and texture was spot on. If I were actually shopping to remake this recipe I'd add some crispy lettuce to the mix but that's about it!
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Vegan Jackfruit + Mushroom Gyros and Tzatziki
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 3 1x
- Category: Sandwich, Main Course, Entrée
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
A "meaty" filling of roasted jackfruit and mushrooms, crispy potatoes, and cool tzatziki all wrapped up in warm naan.
Ingredients
- 3 pieces naan or pita bread
- sliced tomato, to taste
- sliced onion, to taste
- lettuce, to taste
Jackfruit and Mushroom Filling
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ jalapeño, seeds removed (optional)
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- pinch oregano
- 1 can jackfruit in brine (drained, core removed, and rinsed)
- 8 Cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp liquid smoke
- ½ tbsp molasses
- pinch of cinnamon
- ½ cup water
Tzatziki
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut yogurt
- ½ cup soaked cashews
- ⅓ zucchini, grated, generously salted and drained
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped
- 2 tbsp green onion, chopped
- black pepper, to taste
- salt, to taste
Crispy potatoes
- 10 Creamer potatoes, quartered and parboiled
- olive oil, for frying
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Jackfruit and Mushroom Filling
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, jalapeño, paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, and oregano. Cook for about 3 minutes, until onion is tender.
- Add jackfruit and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often and shredding the jackfruit, until mushrooms are tender.
- Add liquid smoke, molasses, and cinnamon. Stir well. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Stir in ½ cup water. Cook for another minute and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until browned but still slightly moist.
Tzatziki
- Blend unsweetened coconut yogurt and soaked cashews until smooth.
- Add drained, grated zucchini, minced garli, chives, green onion, black pepper and salt. Stir well. Chill for 20 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
Crispy potatoes
- In the same skillet used to cook the filling, heat a generous amount of olive oil over medium-high heat. Fry potatoes until crispy and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
Assembly
- Warm naan bread in oven. Arrange lettuce, tomato, and onion down center of naan. Top with ⅓ filling, ⅓ crispy potatoes, and a generous amount of tzatziki. Fold edges tightly inwards and wrap with parchment paper if necessary. Enjoy!
Warwick
That was so delicious and so easy. Prep was a breeze. I substituted Oat Yoghurt, Sweet Potatos and flat bread cause that's what I had in the pantry. Just as delicious. Recipe made three wraps. Demolished two tonight and saved one for lunch tomorrow 🤤
★★★★★
Jody Cunningham
Greetings! I'm thinking of making this recipe tonight, hoping my carnivorous uncle will enjoy it! I am wondering if I could substitute cucumber for the zucchini in the tzatziki, I have cucumber that needs used and traditional tzatziki is so tasty with cucumber... too much moisture, perhaps? Your thoughts? Thank you for the recipe idea!!
Brittany
Absolutely use cucumber! I only used zucchini because that's all I had on hand at the time and it happened to work well. I'd definitely use up your cucumber 🙂
Cheryl
Very creative ideas for the filling, Brittany. Looks delicious!
★★★★★
Ro
I just finished making this and ooooomg. So amazing! Loved it. This is going on my keeper recipe list for sure! Thank you!!!
Brittany
Yes!! That's so great to hear, I'm really happy you loved this recipe so much Ro! 😀 Thank you!!
SherryE
Making these tonight!! Love jackfruit recipes <3
Brittany
Yay! I hope you love them!
Photini
This is a sandwich and looks good but not a gyro. The only thing similar to a gyro is garlic and that's all. Tzatziki uses cucumber, Greek Oregano not regular Italian Oregano, some lemon. Potato? Tomato and Kalmata olives...missing.
Would you make a Philly steak sandwich and put peanut butter on it, use a bagel and only use one ingredient in the traditional recipe?
Brittany
Thanks for commenting!
Shelly Johnson
This is actually extremely similar to the gyros I've had in Detroit, Dearborn, and when served them by friends from Lebanon. Perhaps you've had different styles, but this is pretty spot on to the ones I've had. The person sharing has addressed the fact that they were using ingredients on hand, specifically referencing the use of zucchini since they didn't have cucumber and putting potatoes inside rather than their original plan to have on the side. They did include tomato and the many versions I have seen around have never included olives. Could you use them? Sure. Are they required and standard? Absolutely not.
Dana
Soooo for one, these photos are amazing. Second, you have no idea how excited I was to see this post. I have two cans of jackfruit in my pantry and I have yet to put them to use. I'm not sure if I'm just afraid because I've never used it before or what, but my love for gyros + this post has definitely lit a fire under my butt! I'm so excited to try this now!
Brittany
Haha, oh man me too! I'd had this can in my cupboard for months and months before I finally used it. Can't wait to see what you do with jackfruit!
Dylan Cutler
Wow, this looks absolutely delicious. I tried jackfruit for the first time today (in a smoothie bowl). It has an interesting taste but I did really enjoy it. Would fresh jackfruit work in this recipe instead?
Brittany
You can use fresh jackfruit but not ripe fresh jackfruit. I've never used fresh jackfruit before, it looks crazy!
Marjie Marshall
These look so dang delicious!! I am definitely going to try them, even though I'm a horrible cook 🙂
Brittany
Hey, we've all got to start somewhere! Thanks for commenting Marjie!
Jenny
I'm a huge fan of jackfruit, but I'd never thought of using it for gyozas. Fab idea!
Brittany
Thank you Jenny! I'm going to try to cook with it more often because I was really happy with the result here.